wow JKR you are so lucky... to see them on big screen.

dgovil wrote:

As for the "commended" films...only Skylight was incredibly enjoyable. Great sense of humor and timing.  Maybe should have played last so as not to make the other commended films seem so tragic like you said.
The other commended films had me and my friends waiting impatiently for them to finish. I'm glad you felt the same way...sometimes I question my judgement.
Mind you, this is the 2nd time I've seen Amazonia and I still don't understand why it's got so much hype behind it...those frogs aren't even capable of shutting their mouths!

PHEW! I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that on those last three. I was a little nervous writing it up, thinking "Am I missing something obvious here? Am I just totally off base with how these aren't nearly good enough to be next to the others?"

I didn't get to see the live action ones, because they were playing a different evening that I couldn't attend. I'll try to see them if I ever get the chance, though! Thanks for the recommendation.

Any of the live action ones I should avoid or for-certain see?

Awesome, well I'll certainly look out for those if I can find them to watch!

Thanks!

I really didn't like Rango either! But to be fair there wasn't much competition this year. I like the style of rango and I think the characters are well designed, but I agree they lack a lot of appeal and not to mention a lot of the animation is quite poor in my opinion. I felt nothing for the majority of the characters the whole way through and got quite bored to be honest. But saying that I know a lot of people who absolutely loved it, so maybe I just didn't 'get it'...

Rango is my favourite animated film since Ratatouille! I get why it doesn't appeal to a lot of people, but I just absolutely love it.

Out of the shorts, I've seen La Luna, Wild Life and Lessmore... Out of those, I feel Wild Life should have won. La Luna was okay but Pixar's weakest short film effort. Lessmore bored the hell out of me. It was very slow, and I think the film's message was very in-your-face.

But, to each their own

JKR wrote:

tkanter wrote:

Rango is my favourite animated film since Ratatouille! I get why it doesn't appeal to a lot of people, but I just absolutely love it.

If you don't mind my asking, what did you love about it? I'm just interested. I'm slowly understanding why some folks enjoyed the film even though I didn't, and I'm very interested to totally figure it out so I can see that perspective as clearly as possible.

Aside from the beautiful environments and characters, I just felt that the director - in this case, Gore Verbinski - really respected the medium... it felt like an animated film that was treated as a film-film, if that makes any sense. In the bar scene when Rango introduces himself, I got a real sense of space and staging, which is a quality that I felt throughout the film. It made me feel grounded, and I felt more invested and drawn into Rango's world than any world that I have  watched through 3-D glasses. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was a Western that just happened to be animated.

I wish I could find another reason as to why I like it other than "it's different" but that may be it. I love a lot of mainstream animated films, but there does tend to be a whimsical, sugary flair that permeates the medium. Rango took some risks in terms of story-telling and character development and for me, it pays off. Rattlesnake Jake is one of the best villains I've encountered on film, and some of the film's themes dealing with existentialism and peace of mind really showed me that there are other ways to approach a mainstream animated film.

I also enjoyed the story and characters, and I loved Rango's walk through the desert after being exposed as a fraud. We all have moments where we're trying to figure out who we are, and that scene really got to me.

I think I've been rambling, but I hope that helps. As you said, it's a film you "got" or didn't.

It sure is an interesting batch.
Personally I could not make it the entire way through Flying books, It didn't really click with me at all. But I absolutely loved morning stroll and La Luna.
I think Luna is my favorite Pixar short now, it has a lot of depth and speaks through simple clear design and storytelling, it felt like a lovely illustrated children's book, more about communicating feelings and relationships.

Rango is a hard one, as there is so much that is good about the film, but a few small things really bring the piece down, I really hope they get to make another movie as I'm glad that it is doing so well as the film is pushing boundaries of what animation is and is a great leap in style that I hope gets pushed further.

Its interesting to see people commenting on these things, I was an animator one of the films involved and the journey from creation through the festival circuit has been an amazing one, it was great to meet a lot of the other film makers involved and hear their stories.

Thanks for taking the time to write some reviews up!

Last edited by skrape (03-04-2012 9:52 pm)